What is Time Recording?
Time Recording
A Time Recording system enables you to record start and finish times for an activity so that the time spent on an activity can be calculated. That could be for example the starting and finishing times for the working day for each employee, so that working hours can be calculated. A Time Recording system could also be used to record the time spent on a particular job or task or within a particular cost centre, so that its cost may be calculated.
Time and Attendance or Time & Attendance
Time Recording is also known as Time and Attendance or Time & Attendance and abbreviated to T&A. That is the term most frequently used by system suppliers, although it often sounds like technical jargon to system users.
Every Time Recording or T&A system needs some method for denoting the starting and finishing times of the activity to be measured. The most basic system is the Traditional Time Clock, where a card is inserted and stamped with the time.
Like most products, Traditional Time Clocks have become more sophisticated and contain features that make the mechanics of time recording easier. They still, however, require someone to do a manual calculation of attendance hours or the time spent on a particular activity. The effort involved may be quite acceptable if you have a small number of employees, but as the number of employees increases the administrative burden makes the use of a Computerised Time & Attendance System more economic.
Computerised Time & Attendance Systems
With a Computerised T&A System the unit that is used to record the employees clockings is often referred to as a ‘Clock’ or ‘Time Clock’ because of the tradition of using a non-computerised method. The terms ‘Terminal’ or ‘Clocking Terminal’ tend to be used nowadays because a terminal is connected as a peripheral device to a computer or network in the same way as, for example, a printer. the Time and Attendance software then enables the user to compile the collected clockings into calculated hours and get reports or electronic exports as required.
A Computerised T&A System will give you several immediate advantages when compared to the Traditional Time Clock:
Different types of Terminal are available
Terminals are available that use different technologies to activate the recording of start and finish times. For example, by using a magnetic stripe card, which is rather like a credit in size, or by a biometric method such using a hand scan. This improves security by reducing the risk that someone may ‘clock’ on behalf of someone else.The computer does the arithmetic
The calculation of working hours, using the start and finish times recorded, is done automatically by the system using the working rules programmed into the system. The rules for calculating overtime hours, shift working hours, etc. and other particular rules can be specified by department or work group and set up in the system. The hours worked in different payment categories can usually be exported for use in a separate payroll package. Some systems enable extremely complicated payment rules to be used.Building a database of employee information
A Computerised T&A system needs a database containing basic employee information which can then be used to collect information about holiday, sickness and other absences. With some systems this facility is expanded to become quite a sophisticated ‘HR’ module.Multiple terminals and multiple system users
A Computerised T&A system can enable Terminals to be located in different parts of the site and connected via your data network to the PC or server where the software is located. This enables employees to 'clock' near their workplace, and payroll and personnel staff to use the system from their respective locations.
It is inevitable that building in more sophisticated features for working rules will increase the complexity of a Computerised Time & Attendance System. It is therefore important to choose a system that contains the features you need without containing lots of features that you will never need.
How can I identify the Time Recording / Time & Attendance System that I need?
The first decision is obviously whether a Traditional Time Clock will meet your needs or whether the size of your organisation is such that you need a Computerised T&A System. If you are in doubt, a review of the different levels on the Time Recording page will guide you, or you can contact us to discuss it.
To decide which level of Computerised T&A system meets your requirements, you need to consider the following key factors:
- the number of employees who will be using the system
- the number of Terminals required
- the number of users that need to access the software
- the type of payment rules that you use and any special aspects to them
Using the above information you will quickly be able to decide whether an Entry-Level Time & Attendance System meets your requirements, or whether you need the SME-Level Time & Attendance System, or even an Enterprise-Level Systems.
The main factor which complicates the identification of the most appropriate system to meet your needs is the complexity of your payment rules.
Once you have an understanding of what a Computerised T&A System can do, then, if your payment rules are not straight-forward, it is usually better to contact us to discuss which system best fits your needs.
Cost justification of a Time & Attendance System
Payment of wages is often directly related to the number of basic, overtime, shift or flexitime hours that an employee works. Where there is no secure method of recording starting and finishing times, there is clearly scope for hours to be paid that have either not been worked or correspond to a different rate of payment.
The cumulative effect of ‘lost time’ over the working year can be significant. The page showing the Cost of Lost Time illustrates on conservative assumptions just how much the loss of five minutes per day per employee can add up to.
If you consider your annual payroll cost for employees paid on a working hours basis and assess the Cost of Lost Time, you will be able to construct a simple Cost / Benefit analysis and assess whether you can easily justify your investment in a Computerised T&A System.
Another factor to take into account is how much time a Computerised T&A system can save your administrative staff when preparing information for the the payroll – hours that used to be spent totting up the hours on time cards or clocking rolls could be spent more productively within your organisation.
Time & Attendance is one of our fields of expertise. Please contact us, if you need any help!
What next?
If you need any further technical explanation, please contact our Technical Help Desk.
If you would like any advice on Time Recording, please contact us, or use our Enquiry Form.